Tatuaje Black Label Cigar Review

For whatever reason most of the otherreviews of this brand I have found online have been for the petite lancero vitola. (Perhaps most of the reviews are for the petite lancero because that is a regular production cigar and what I’m smoking happens not to be. Ponder and discuss.) That’s fine and since that particular vitola has been covered by many others I’m going to cover the corona gorda Tatuaje Black Label.

“If looks could kill” is not a phrase that comes to mind when looking at this cigar. It’s waifishly skinny with a pale looking wrapper that is marked by the occasional protruding vein, stretch mark, bump and tear. It looks like a mess and so have all the others (four others, this is the fifth) that I have smoked. Black Labels may be ugly ducklings but they sure can fly.

While doing some research on this cigar I got a little confused. This cigar does not have a pigtail nor is the foot unfinished, as the Tatuaje site says it should, which made me think for a minute that this cigar was a fake and that I was going to raise Holy Hell with a local B&M. After digging a little deeper I found this and was relieved. Oh well, that’s what I get for not keeping current on the latest news on Tatuaje’s various brands.

When you combine an effortless draw, a wealth of flavors, a ton of smoke and a dash of strength you get an awesome cigar. From the first puff on this is an awesome cigar. Leather and golden raisins. Effervescent spice that briefly lingers in the nostrils and sweet woody notes that come on weakly but last a long time. It’s just that right mix of spice and sweet and savory. The flavors themselves are strong but could possibly be a little bit more forceful and there is a minutely off putting blandness that momentarily numbs my tongue after each puff for a few seconds.

The second third is a glorious continuation of the first third. When things are going good I don’t want them to change and that is what is happening here. If anything, there is this hearty apple flavor that is coming through more forcefully. Apple and cinnamon more precisely.

It’s a refreshing cigar with an edge. Hearty flavors are the rule with this cigar. The main forces are the raisins and the leather. Sweetness permeates the field augmented by cinnamon. Add in the fact that the draw is superb and the burn is even, this medium-full bodied cigar is awesome.

Despite there being no evolution of flavors from beginning to end this cigar quickly became one of my all-time favorites. The flavors are alive and in perfect harmony with each other. I think the only drawback for me is that the flavors are not perfectly in my wheelhouse. Unlike the Fausto Avion 11, there isn’t much grittiness to this cigar. It’s elegant, refined; not bold and volatile. This cigar would impress any cigar smoker.